Jeffree Star (born Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr., November 15, 1985) is an American makeup artist, media personality and singer-songwriter. He is the founder and owner of

Jeffree Star Cosmetics Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Inc. is an American cosmetics company founded by Internet personality and musician Jeffree Star. Star invested his life savings to start the company's makeup line in 2014, later detailing the bankruptcy he had been facin ...

. In 2009, Star released his debut studio album, '' Beauty Killer'', which included songs such as " Lollipop Luxury" (which has a remix featuring

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

). He embarked on several world tours to promote his music. In 2010, he signed to Konlive but abruptly left the music industry by 2013 citing legal issues the label’s owner faced between 2007 and 2010. Star returned to the music industry in 2024 announcing a re-release of his album '' Beauty Killer'' featuring 3 new songs. In November 2014, Star founded the company Jeffree Star Cosmetics. In 2018, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' revealed that he had earned $18 million from his YouTube endeavors alone, making him the fifth-highest-paid YouTuber that year.

Early life

Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr. was born in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

, on November 15, 1985 and grew up in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

. He says that he began experimenting with his mother's

makeup Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources or created sy ...

as a child, and convinced her to let him wear it to school when he was in

junior high Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

. Star attended Pacifica High School in

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city in an east–west direction. The west ...

, from which he graduated in 2002. After high school, he legally changed his name to Jeffree Star and supported himself with various makeup, modeling, and music jobs in Los Angeles. He recalls his early years, spending his weekends using a

fake ID Identity document forgery is the process by which identity documents issued by governing bodies are illegally copied and/or modified by persons not authorized to create such documents or engage in such modifications, for the purpose of deceivi ...

to attend

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

clubs, which is where celebrities would hire him as a personal makeup artist. (Interview transcript; original source uncredited)

Career

MySpace

Star used

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

to further both his music and his fashion design career. Using MySpace like a blog, Star shared his personal life, while also providing social commentary on "self-image and confidence", fame and beauty. Due to his use of several websites, Star already had a built-up fan base who signed up to join him on MySpace, giving his profile a large number of friends from its inception. His MySpace photoshoots would frequently gain over 50,000 comments. He also gained fame as one of the most popular independent artists, with the daily rankings placing him in the top tier on MySpace.

Music career

Star's career as an

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

vocalist began when he befriended

Peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...

' drummer

Samantha Maloney Samantha Maloney (born December 11, 1975) is an American musician best known for playing in the band Hole. She has also performed live with Eagles of Death Metal and Peaches. Early career Maloney received her first drum-kit at the age of five. D ...

, who encouraged him to make music. In 2005 he was featured on the

Hollywood Undead Hollywood Undead is an American rap rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2005. All of the band members use pseudonyms and previously wore their own unique mask, most of which were based on the common goaltender mask, hockey goalten ...

song ''Turn Off The Lights''. During the summer of 2007, he was advertised as a part of the

True Colors Tour 2007 True Colors was an annual music event created by American recording artist Cyndi Lauper. The concerts were headlined by Lauper and featured various music and comedy acts. Beginning in 2007, the trek supported the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG and ...

, which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada. The tour, sponsored by the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

channel, began on June 8, 2007, to coincide with

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

month. Star released his first and only studio album '' Beauty Killer'' in 2009, which peaked at number seven on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Top Electronic Albums Top Dance Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums and Top Dance/Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling dance music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by Nielsen S ...

chart. The album included songs such as " Lollipop Luxury" featuring

. He embarked on several world tours to promote his music. In 2010, he signed to Konlive with plans to release a second album. However, it was never released and Star abruptly left the music industry in 2013 under unclear circumstances. He appeared in the second version of

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. Her first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round". Kesha's music and ima ...

's music video for her single " Take It Off" in 2010. Star has worked with several other musical performers, including Blood on the Dance Floor, Deuce,

Millionaires A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. Many national currencies have, or ha ...

, and

Larry Tee Larry Tee (born October 12, 1959) is a LA-based DJ, club promoter, and music producer who curated the electroclash scene in New York in the early 2000s, and helped launch the careers of such artists as RuPaul, Scissor Sisters, Fischerspooner, Pe ...

. However, on September 15, 2024 Jeffree announced a 15 Year Anniversary release of his 2009 album Beauty Killer alongside a mini-eyeshadow palette of the same name through his YouTube channel. The release saw a new album cover with 3 new songs and with some tracks remastered. A Digital EP called 'Lollipop Killer' was also announced. The anniversary album was released in both CDs and several versions of Vinyls. The album was available for pre-order after the announcement.

Conflicts with other media personalities

Star's quarrels with other media personalities include conversations with tattoo artist

Kat Von D Katherine von Drachenberg (born March 8, 1982), known professionally as Kat Von D, is a Mexican-born American tattoo artist, television personality, entrepreneur and recording artist. She is best known for her work as a tattoo artist on the TLC ...

, who accused Star of "drug use, racism, and bullying";

Tati Westbrook Tatiana Aleksandra Westbrook (born Tania Aleksandra Krievins; February 14, 1982), best known under her vlogger name Tati, is an American YouTuber and make-up artist, makeup artist. Career YouTube Westbrook, a former Image consulting, image ...

, who accused Star and

Shane Dawson Shane Lee Yaw (born July 19, 1988), known online as Shane Dawson, is an American YouTuber, actor, filmmaker, writer, and musician. Dawson was one of the first people to rise to fame on YouTube after he began making videos in 2008 at the age of ...

of forcing her to upload a video attacking fellow beauty YouTuber

James Charles James Charles Dickinson (born May 23, 1999) is an American beauty YouTuber and makeup artist. While working as a local makeup artist in his hometown of Bethlehem, New York, Charles started a YouTube channel, where he began uploading makeup tu ...

, whose brother, Ian Jeffrey, was also bullied by Star on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

;

Kylie Jenner Kylie Kristen Jenner (born August 10, 1997) is an American media personality, socialite and businesswoman. She starred in the E! reality television series ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' from 2007 to 2021 and then the Hulu reality televisi ...

, whose products were criticized by Star;

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the celebrity sex tape ...

; and Jerrod Blandino, co-founder of Too Faced Cosmetics. In 2010, Star called Blood on the Dance Floor member Dahvie Vanity, who was arrested in 2009 on sexual assault charges, a " child fucker", tweeting that he saw Vanity "bring underage girls to his hotel room ..100% ILLEGAL". Star had said he had witnessed Vanity's actions in 2012. Other tweets show Star telling people to "get over the negativity" against Vanity, and promoting a Blood on the Dance Floor album. He was accused of associating with Vanity despite knowing about sexual assault allegations to profit off Vanity's continued success. Following a ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' report detailing sexual assault – before and after 2010 – against 21 individuals (many of whom were minors),

Chris Hansen Christopher Edward Hansen (born September 13, 1959) is an American television presenter, journalist, and YouTube personality. During his tenure as a correspondent for ''Dateline NBC'', he hosted the program's segment ''To Catch a Predator'' (20 ...

of ''

To Catch a Predator ''To Catch a Predator'' is an American reality television series in the television news magazine program ''Dateline NBC'' featuring confrontations of host Chris Hansen, partly filmed with a hidden camera, with adult men arriving at a Sting oper ...

'' started covering the story. Speaking to Hansen on YouTube, Star said he had no knowledge of any inappropriate activity between Vanity and underage girls while they worked together, and that his tweets were based on hearsay.

Jeffree Star Cosmetics

In 2014, Star founded his

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

makeup brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics. In a five-part docuseries by Shane Dawson, Star stated that the end of his music career had left him essentially bankrupt, and that he had used his remaining savings to start his makeup brand. Star began promoting the brand through videos published on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, leading to the success of his YouTube channel, with 15.8 million subscribers and over 2.5 billion views as of December 2023. ''

Bustle A bustle is a padded undergarment or wire frame used to add fullness, or support the drapery, at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles are worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skir ...

'' magazine described Star as "a musician and onetime MySpace celeb that reinvented himself in the YouTube makeup tutorial space." His first cosmetics release was a collection of velour liquid lipsticks, which were followed by highlighter palettes, lip scrubs, eyeshadow palettes, clothing, and accessories, such as mirrors and make up bags. The first East Coast location to carry the cosmetics line was a

Morphe Cosmetics Morphe Cosmetics, also known as Morphe Brushes and legally known as Morphe Holdings (stylized as MORPHE), is a Los Angeles–based cosmetics and beauty manufacturer founded in 2008. The company specializes in direct-to-consumer distribution of b ...

store at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in

Paramus, New Jersey Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H, ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

on August 11, 2018. Star has since launched several successful collections, such as the "Blue Blood" eyeshadow palette.

Personal life

Star was in a relationship with Nathan Schwandt from 2015 to January 2020. He also says that he avoids cigarettes and hard drugs, although he does smoke

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

. As of December 2020, Star resides in

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the List of municipalities in Wyoming, second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of th ...

Controversies

Star was accused of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

due to derogatory remarks about minorities. He later apologized for the remarks. A satirical skit between Star and a drag queen was posted on

, in which Star states he wants to throw

battery acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

on a black woman to lighten her skin so it will match her foundation. In June 2020, Star apologized after images and an archive of his former website Lipstick Nazi resurfaced. The website featured

swastikas The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

alongside photos of Star engaging in

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

. In an October 2020 report by journalist

Kat Tenbarge Kat Tenbarge is an independent American journalist. She previously worked as a senior reporter at ''Insider'' and later as a tech and culture reporter for NBC News. She specializes in reporting on internet culture and influencers, including her o ...

, Star was accused of multiple instances of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

, and paying $10,000 in

hush money Hush money is an arrangement in which one person or party offers another money or other enticement, in exchange for remaining silent about some illegal, stigmatized, or shameful behavior, action, or other fact about the person or party who has m ...

to accusers. An attorney for Star denied all the allegations. Leaked documents later appeared to show one of Star's accusers being paid $45,000 by a Jeffree Star Cosmetics executive.

Filmography

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Star, Jeffree 1985 births Living people 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters American electronic musicians American make-up artists American male bloggers American bloggers American performance artists American male pop singers American synth-pop musicians Beauty and makeup YouTubers LGBTQ YouTubers LGBTQ people from California American LGBTQ rights activists American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters Male models from California Singer-songwriters from California Warner Music Group artists American cosmetics businesspeople American YouTube vloggers 21st-century American LGBTQ people YouTubers from Wyoming American male singer-songwriters Electropop musicians American social media influencers YouTubers from California American YouTubers